My journey into rooibos teas...

For those of you that haven't seen my post in the "Other" forum, me and my wife are new converts to loose leaf tea and have purchased a bunch of different samplers. We are trying at least one new tea a day and rating them from 1 to 5 (5 being the best).

In this thread I will talk about the rooibos teas we have tried so far.

Rooibos - We thought this had almost no flavor at all which was dissapointing since it have a great aroma. One we won't be getting again.
Rating: 1

Rooibos Vanilla - The first rooibos that we tried, surprisingly good considering I'm not a huge fan of all things vanilla. Great aroma and an enticing flavor; one we'll probably stock for normal consumption.
Rating: 5

I thought the plain rooibos was very blah also. I have been adding it to the herbal blends though and it gives them a deeper, richer type flavor for some reason. The sour apple or apple cantata with rooibos and caramal rooibos are really yummy. I went through and tried all the teas by themselves and "graded" them, now I love to mix. I can honestly say that I have many "mixed drinks" every day.

I don't find the plain rooibos blah at all. I think it has great woody undertones in the flavor and I really like it. I will shamefully admit that I haven't tried the rooibos from Adagio yet, only the bagged rooibos from Choice Teas - the organic rooibos. It's very good for a bagged tea.

I'm not a huge fan of plain rooibos, but I find it to be a great canvas for other teas. In addition to the already flavored ones (peach is my favorite) I've also experimented with other herbs. Last night I was poking through the teas I got with the herbal ingenuitea starter and decided to mix the spearmint with the rooibos. I was very pleased at the way they mixed, the rooibos layed in the background while still calming the aggresion of the mint, perfect for night-time.

i just bought my first bit of rooibos vanilla, and the aroma just overwhelmed me. i smelled the vanilla and i just had to have a cup. so i made one...and i couldnt taste the vanilla at all! i let it steep for 7 minutes and it tasted pretty plain. i tried making another cup adding two teaspoons instead of one, and it was the same taste. then i decided to add sugar and it tasted just like cake! it's amazing, and now i wont be moping around that i have tea i dont like anymore. but does anyone have suggestions to make a great cup without the sugar? im curious as to whether im just doing something wrong. thanks in advance.

Another rooibos is Lemon Sunshine (from Metro tea). If you are feeling a bit under the weather because of allergies or a sore throat, add a pinch of organic mint tea and sweeten with honey for a modern version of a teaspoon of honey and lemon! Holding an aromatic and warm cup of this tea is so much nicer!